Be my Boyfriend?
by Robin Red R
Summary: The four times Dick said 'no', and the one time he had no choice but to say 'yes'.
1. Chapter 1

**Title: **"Be My Boyfriend?"

**Warning: **T for slash (Boy/boy), language, suggestive themes, and lots of angsting.

**Summary: **_The four times Dick said 'no', and the one time he had no choice but to say 'yes'. _

**Author's Note: **This fanfic is dedicated to the lovely **SageStormAshes**¸ for being so encouraging, for leaving me such beautiful feedback, for being an inspiration, and for being a good friend. Thank you ^^

**For this fic, Bruce takes Dick in at eight years old, and he becomes Robin shortly thereafter. Wally becomes Kid Flash at eleven.**

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"**B****e my Boyfriend?"**

**~x~**

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**1.**

"You," a brightly dressed Kid Flash said, excitement making his eyes sparkle, "must be _Robin_." He breathed out the boy's name in a kind of awe-filled whisper. His gaze flickered over the yellow 'R' emblazoned on Robin's chest, the dark cape which he had wrapped around himself like a pair of wings, and the slick black locks of hair which cast a shadow over his shyly tilted head. Gotham's nine-year-old Boy Wonder regarded the speedster a moment, and then smiled with a tint of that cockiness which was to become his trademark in later years.

"And you," he crossed his arms over his chest, shoulders straightening ever so slightly, "must be Kid Flash." The redhead grinned, looking down at the adorable young boy who barely came up to his shoulder, but who already had that aura of confidence about him. He clasped his hands, bouncing slightly on the balls of his feet because he couldn't keep still.

"Robin, wow, I've waited so long for this! I can't believe I'm actually talking to you. You're the first ever sidekick, how awesome is that!? And _Batman's _sidekick too," Wally gushed, words tumbling over one another like a bubbling waterfall. "How long have you been doing this? A year? And you're only like, what, eight years old—"

"I'm nine," Robin interrupted indignantly. Of course he wasn't _eight… _He was eight a looong time ago.

"—still, that's really cool. I never thought I'd ever meet one of the sidekicks, but now I'm one of them myself. Actually, are there even more sidekicks than just us two? I think my uncle said something about Green Arrow getting a sidekick, his name's… Red Arrow or something, right? Do you think he's—"

"It's _Spee_dy," Robin cut in again, fighting back a giggle at the seemingly endless volley of words.

"Whatever, same difference—wait, is he a speedster or something? No way. That's my thing. Hey, you know how I got my powers? I found Uncle Barr—I mean, _The Flash's_ notes on how he created the experiment that gave him his speed. Do you know what the speed force is? I don't really know either, no one really knows, except that's kind of where we get our superspeed from, but that's kind of obvious from its name, right?"

That was around the time when Batman's protégé stopped listening, one because it was impossible to keep up with the speedster's rapid monologue, and two it was obvious he wasn't expected to make a comment anyway. Instead, he beckoned Kid Flash forward to the edge of the roof they were currently standing on, and swiftly pulled out his grappling hook.

"—So then there was this super loud crashing sound and then everything went black, and when I woke up I was in a hospital and I didn't remember anything, but I felt really bad because Uncle B and Aunt I were looking so worried. Then a few hours later we realized—hey wait, Rob, what are you doing?" Wally watched with wide eyes as Robin shot the grappling hook off the roof and across the wide expanse of black night, where it wrapped silently around the railing of a neighboring apartment building.

"Let me show you my city," Robin stated proudly, standing up tall on the very edge of the roof where the wind whipped his cape around his legs. Wally resisted the urge to wrap his arms around the little nine-year-old and drag him back to the safety of solid ground. His uncle had pressed upon him more than once that Robin and Batman knew how to take care of themselves, especially in their own hometown.

"Sure Rob!" he exclaimed instead, coming up behind Robin, and, after hesitating a fraction of a second, hugged him tightly around the waist when the other boy motioned for him to do so.

Then, suddenly, they were flying.

Wally may or may not have let out a shrill gasp of fear and exhilaration as suddenly the ground was gone from beneath his feet, and he latched his arms so tightly around Robin's torso that the younger boy could barely breathe. For the long second that they hung in the air, almost suspended in time, Wally noticed with amazement the feel of Robin's body encased in his arms; his muscles tightly coiled like a spring which could erupt at any moment, his pulse beating under his pale skin in a steady rhythm, powered by strength and adrenalin and vitality, and the vibration of his chest as he let out a twinkling laugh while they swung through the air.

They landed with a little stumble on the glass roof of the highest building around, the one with the beautiful view of Gotham's skyline, lit up against the breathtaking backdrop of the rising sun. Wally, for once, didn't say a word, instead letting his gaze just sweep around and take everything in.

"So this is Gotham…" he murmured. Everyone called it such a stinking, dirty, crime infested city, but honestly, right now it looked kind of beautiful, despite it being made of what seemed like a nightmare of dark metal and stone.

"Well, part of it, yeah. The part that we're proud of," answered Robin quietly, with a kind of wisdom to his tone which didn't match his age. "That's the City Hall," the brunet continued, pointing to the building they had just vacated. "And over there is the police headquarters, and the courthouse. And way over there is the Clocktower." Wally followed with his gaze to where Robin was gesturing, however all the buildings looked pretty much the same to him. "Oh, and this is the Finger River," Robin added, pointing down to the ground below them, where a sickly dark green river flowed sluggishly, choked up with trash as it was. It looked disgusting.

"Ew, that's gross," Wally voiced his opinion, deciding that upon closer inspection Gotham might just be as dark and dirty as people said. Robin laughed sadly in agreement.

"What's that?" Wally asked, pointing to a tall building which rose above the others and caught the rays of the sun on its sleek black sides.

Robin's laugh abruptly cut off. "That's um, the Wayne Tower," he replied, but his voice was oddly closed, and he didn't elaborate. Wally waited a moment, then shrugged it off and launched eagerly into another soliloquy on his impressions of Gotham.

"Hey dude, I'm _starving_!" Wally exclaimed all of a sudden, breaking off mid-word, after realizing that he hadn't brought anything with him to snack on. Robin turned his masked eyes to Wally's green ones, amusement curling his lips into a smile.

"Ha, Batman did warn me about this," he chuckled, ignoring Wally's sheepish-indignant look. "Don't worry, KF, I brought us lunch," he continued, flopping down on the floor of the roof and leaning against a metal pole, then produced a tupperware box from somewhere. Wally squeaked and tried to stop himself from showering his new friend in heaps of love and gratitude. The best way to win Kid Flash's friendship? Bring him food. He finally settled down enough to take the proffered sandwich from Robin's hand, wolfing it down in a matter of seconds. Robin made a fake gagging sound next to him at the sight, but Wally just grinned widely at him, unfazed.

Once the edge of his hunger had been dulled, he opened his mouth to speak again. "You know, you can call me 'Wally'," the redhead said, recalling the nickname Robin had used for him earlier. "I mean, I have nothing against 'KF', but if you want to call me by my real name…?"

Robin stilled, the hand holding his sandwich frozen half way to his mouth. Then his expression turned conflicted, and he didn't quite meet Wally's searching eyes. "Uh, sure, if you want…" was all he replied, after a long pause. He bent his legs and pulled them up in front of him, resting his chin on his knees. It struck Wally how, for all his confidence and maturity, Robin really _was_ just nine years old. And now, with his arms wrapped around his shins and his gaze fixed guiltily on the horizon, he actually looked it. "I can't, though, you know… um, secret IDs and stuff…" Robin babbled, and Wally looked at him in confusion. Robin took a breath. "I can't tell you _mine_," he clarified.

"That's no problem!" Wally laughed loudly, his exclamation startling the younger of the two. But Wally was well aware of Batman's strict rules regarding their identities; Barry had filled him in earlier.

"Really?" Robin asked, his fingers nervously plucking at the Kevlar padding on his knees. "You really don't mind?"

"'Course not, Rob. We'll become _best_ friends anyway, and then when you trust me enough, and your big Bat-Daddy isn't hanging over you, you can tell me. Right?" He grinned a million-watt grin at the other, punching him lightly in the shoulder.

"Um…"

"Or, even better, we'll become _boy_friends!" he exclaimed, as if having an epiphany. "Aunt Iris says that when two people really love each other, then they have no more secrets between them. So there." He draped an arm over Robin's shoulders and smirked, but the acrobat just gave him a consternated look and shook his head uncertainly. Before either of them could make another sound, however, the light tap of rubber soles against the concrete floor approaching them gained both their attention. Robin had stiffened under his arm at the sound, but abruptly he relaxed again, a tiny smile even making its way to his face.

"Wally, meet my… meet Batman," he announced, standing up, and Wally missed the feel of his warm little body pressed against his side. All thoughts of that nature fled from his mind a moment later, though, when _The_ Batman stepped out of the shadows, a million times more imposing than his uncle's_ worst_ descriptions. His cold gaze rested on Wally, and the speedster felt as if his every thought and feeling was open to scrutiny, and was being picked through by a judgmental hand. He cowered behind his new friend, only daring to breathe again when Batman gave him a curt nod and turned his unnerving attention elsewhere.

"Robin. I want you back at the Cave now; I'm needed for a League meeting and I want you supervised." Batman's voice was gravelly and closed, but somehow the knowledge that the big scary Bats actually _cared_ for his bright little sidekick made him seem more human to Wally's eyes. It didn't stop the redhead from feeling disappointed that his new friend would be leaving so soon, though. They'd been having the best of times after all.

"Sure," Robin nodded, packing away the empty sandwich box with quick efficiency. He turned his masked eyes back to Wally, and his face split into a happy grin. "It was super cool meeting you, KF. You're totally asterous. We'll hang out again soon, okay!" He exchanged a look with his mentor which Wally couldn't read, and then bounded off the roof, vanishing silently into the shadows from whence he came. The echo of his tinkling laugh floated back to them.

Wally glanced nervously at Batman, who was still standing a few feet from him, just out of the range of the light. The speedster _sensed _more than _saw _him, and that was really kind of freaky.

"He likes you," Batman said suddenly into the awkward silence. "He doesn't usually open up to people that quickly, but he did for you." Wally shuffled his feet nervously, not sure how he was supposed to reply to that. He couldn't detect Batman's opinion on the matter, since his tone was carefully neutral.

"Uhh well, I—"

"However, I think he has quite a few more years to go before he's ready to have a _boyfriend_," Batman cut him off. Wally's green eyes widened in shock and he stared at the Dark Knight with a dry mouth. Freaky. The guy must have been hiding in the shadows the entire time they were talking. That was really freaky.

"So, uh, the answer's no then?" Wally made a feeble attempt at a joking tone. But, he swore he saw Batman's lips twitch just slightly, though it could have been a trick of the light.

"Definitively." And, with a swish of his cape, Gotham's vigilante had quite literally melted away into the darkness, as effectively as his protégé before him. Again; freaky.

…Wally spent the next fifteen minutes pondering how to get down from the roof without the help of a grappling gun, and then ended up calling his uncle for help.

**~x~**

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**Author's Note: **Number **2 **will be up soon! ;D If you liked it or have any critique, do me a favor and **review**, please? And also please vote on the **poll** on my profile. A (late) Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of you!


	2. Chapter 2

"**Be my Boyfriend?" **

**~x~**

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**2. **_**Five Years Later…**_

"Hey, um, Rob?" came Wally's distinct voice from the other side of Robin's door one winter evening. "Can we talk?"

The Boy Wonder looked up from his sheet of calculus homework, eyebrows furrowing as he focused on the sound of his best friend's voice. He let out a noncommittal grunt, turning his attention back to his paper. Though he was, age-wise, only in eighth grade, he was already doing high-school level math work. That didn't mean it was easy, though. It still required his full attention. Besides, when Wally 'needed to talk', it was usually either to complain about the empty state of the fridge, to whine about something nasty Artemis had called him, or to bemoan his existence in another, exaggerated way.

Apparently, Wally took Dick's grunt as a 'yes' because the door to his Mount Justice room slid open with a little hiss, and the redhead stepped in. Wally, of course, knew the code to Robin's room by heart. And he had never failed to point out on several occasions how sappy it was that the six-numbered combination _just so_ happened to be the date the two had first met, five long years ago. Dick would always blush angrily and grumble, and yet… he never changed the code. Wally loved that.

Today, though, the redhead seemed to have something else on his mind. First, he hovered uncertainly behind Dick's shoulder, arms crossed, his fingers tapping out a rhythm at superspeed against his freckled arm. He practically _radiated_ jumpiness. When his best friend didn't acknowledge his presence, Wally turned and collapsed with a heavy sigh on the bed, sprawling spread-eagled on the covers. Dick took no notice; only scribbled down a few numbers, then chewed the end of his pencil in thought.

However, once Wally sat up and began pacing from wall to wall, his body humming with nervous vibrations, Dick couldn't even _pretend_ to ignore him anymore. He groaned, running his fingers through the fringe of dark hair which fell over his forehead, and swiveled his chair around to face the speedster.

Cocking an eyebrow, he stated: "Starting a conversation out with 'can we talk'," he used air-quotes around the phrase to emphasize his point, "usually involves, you know, _talking_."

Wally sighed exaggeratedly, flopping down limply on the bed again. His eyes flickered up to meet Dick's gaze briefly with an expression too conflicted for even Robin to read, then fixed on the ground. Yet still, he said nothing. The brunet frowned, concern seeping into him at Wally's strange behavior. It wasn't like him to… to not say _anything_. 'Wally' and 'quiet' just didn't fit into the same sentence.

"Walls?" he asked, trying hard not to sound as worried as he felt.

Wally bit his lip, his fingers finding a loose thread on the edge of his jacket and tugging at it jerkily until Dick reached over the gap that separated them and touched the back of Wally's hand. He stilled immediately.

The speedster berated himself mentally. He was being an idiot, as usual, and completely overreacting. All he had to do was say a few simple words, and that would be that. He'd practically gone over every possible scenario in his head already, and he was pretty sure he could cope with… however Dick would react. Even if it turned out to be painful. But this was _Dick_, Wally reminded himself. His stupid, immature, talented, gorgeous, _best friend_, who'd trusted him with the world's best-kept secret, and who would never intentionally hurt Wally if he could help it. He'd been in denial for much too long about this – hey, he was good with denial—but that was over now. _Man up, West. _

The redhead stared down at his own hand blankly. "Remember—" he broke off and cleared his throat before continuing. "Remember how last month I, um, I told you I was bi?" he eventually managed to say. Proud that his voice didn't even wobble.

Dick rolled his eyes, a 'not this again' expression adorning his features. Wally had acted in much the same way a month ago – the restless hovering and stuttered sentences included— when he'd finally come (partially) out of the closet to his best friend. Honestly, Dick didn't know what all the fuss was about. Well okay, he _knew; _this was a big controversial secret for Wally to admit and trust him with, but Dick couldn't help feeling like the speedster was making too big of a deal about it all.

"Yeah, I do. And remember how I told you that it was _fine _with me, that it wouldn't change anything between us, that you're still my very best friend, and you therefore have nothing to worry about?" retorted the brunet, contemplating whether he could surreptitiously finish his math problem without Wally seeing him.

"Uhh… right. Well, I might have not— I mean, I… fuck…" Wally groaned and then smiled sheepishly at Dick, but it didn't really reach his eyes. Dick's gaze flickered away from his, and he fiddled absentmindedly with his pen.

"Spit it _out_, KF."

"_I-think-I-may-just-possibly-kinda-most-definitively-like-you_…" Wally blurted out his confession, feeling the hot blood rush to his face and thud in his ears. Eyes closed tightly, he refused to look at Dick. "A l-lot, actually. I think I like you a lot," he added. Might as well say it all, now that he was at it. He waited with bated breath for Dick's reply.

"…Mhm. So I figured." Dick sounded so distinctly unimpressed, that Wally's eyes snapped open against his will.

"You fig—well, obviously you did," he muttered under his breath. This was Batman's protégé he was dealing with; of course it was obvious to him. Wally kept his eyes resolutely looking everywhere _but_ at Dick's face, since he knew he wasn't quite ready to see whatever expression Dick was currently wearing. Though his tone of voice and facial expression might be schooled into perfect blankness from all the training he'd undergone in the last five years, Wally could almost _always _tell the truth in Dick's candid, blue eyes.

But Wally waited, the seconds dragging by like minutes, like hours, like days, each heartbeat a drum sounding in his chest. Yet Dick said nothing more, and Wally didn't understand. Once he heard the telltale sound of pen scratching over paper, the redhead couldn't stop himself from looking back up carefully.

Dick had half-turned back to his desk, head bent studiously over his math homework once again. Wally stared at him for a long minute, gathering up his scattered, confused thoughts.

"Well?" he managed to choke out after another moment of silence.

Dick didn't look up, and Wally's heart was stuck in his throat. "Well what?"

"Well, aren't you going to _say_ anything? I kind of just confessed that I have a freakin' crush on you, Dick, the least you could do is, I don't know…At least give me something more than just 'I figured'!" Wally burst out, sitting on his hands to stop them from shaking.

Dick tilted his head slightly in Wally's direction, but he still didn't look at him straight on. Wally could see his lips and eyebrows shift, but he wasn't sure if it was into a frown or into a smile. Maybe a bit of both. "What; would you rather it be like a Disney fairytale in which I declare my undying love to you, faint, and fall into your arms? Showered with sparks and glitter?"

Wally half-smirked despite himself. "Well, that _would _be kinda nice…" he answered, unable to ignore the flutter of hope that stirred in his chest.

"Sorry, not happening."

And the flutter in his heart turned into a feeble flicker, retreating somewhere deep in his stomach. He spluttered something in response to Dick's blunt statement, before snapping his mouth shut, embarrassed, and stared at the floor with the intensity that Superboy had when he was trying to call up his non-existent heat vision. Dick turned abruptly in his chair to face Wally squarely, the pen slipping from his fingers to fall on the carpeted floor with a soft thud. Neither of them moved to pick it up.

"Why are you telling me this now?" the brunet asked quietly. Wally chanced a super-speeded glance up at Dick's face, taking in the deep blue eyes and the finely drawn eyebrow, raised, as if in a challenge. Dick was waiting for him to say something. And Wally had the frightening feeling that he was standing on the edge of something new and dangerous and wonderful; but all it would take to shatter everything would be one _mis_placed step…

Wally hoped to God he'd say the right thing.

"Will-you-go-out-with-me?" he blurted.

And shit, that was really _not _what he'd meant to say. He could feel himself blushing the way only a redhead can blush; from the tips of his ears all the way into the collar of his shirt. He held Dick's eyes almost desperately with his own, willing himself not to look away.

Dick looked momentarily shocked – and Wally felt a brief spark of triumph to know that, for once, he'd caught_ Robin_ off guard – but then the acrobat's expression turned pained. It was Dick that looked away first.

"I—" He swallowed, shaking his head slowly. "No, Wally. I—I can't…"

And with those few words, the previous flicker of hope in Wally's chest turned into a lump of lead, plummeting straight through his core to land painfully on the floor between his feet. _No. Nonono. Dick doesn't really mean that. _Something was slipping right through his fingertips, without him even knowing quite what it was.

"Why not? You're gay, aren't you?" Wally jumped off the bed where he'd been sitting, his voice too loud, with a touch of hysteria in it. Somewhere deep down he knew this was a pointless battle to fight, one he'd already lost before it had started, but he wasn't going to believe that. Not yet. He was good with denial; he'd said so before. He just hadn't imagined the rejection would sting as sharply as it did, despite having played it all out before in his mind. Things rarely ever go the way one expects them too, after all.

Dick, once again, looked startled for a moment, before his eyes hardened. "I don't know where you heard that. But even if it's true, it doesn't mean I'd just _go out _with every random guy who happens to have an interest… like mine."

"Do I look like just a 'random guy' to you?" the speedster retorted, waving a hand towards his chest.

"Wally, stop it. You don't—"

"Why?! Give me a _valid_ reason, and then maybe I will," he interrupted, stepping closer to Dick, who had by now also risen from his chair. "How 'bout you start by answering this: do you like me back? Even just a little bit? If you don't think you ever _could _like me, then fine, I'll leave you alone. But just, you know…"

"That's irrelevan—"

"No, it sure as hell is _not_ irrelevant!" he snapped back, feeling a kind of desperate anger flood through him. He was falling, the world was spinning, and he was _fighting _with his best-friend-in-the-whole-world over something as stupid as… as…

"Wally!" Dick spoke sharply, cutting through the haze clouding his mind. "You want to know why I won't go out with you? Well here's the thing. You're sixteen; I'm fourteen. You're my _best_ friend, the best friend I've ever had, and the best one I ever _will _have. I trust you with everything, even with my _life, _Walls, and I know you do the same for me. Why would you want to ruin what we have already, with something as shallow as a teenage romance? Which we both know won't last. Don't give me that look; how often does a high-school relationship ever last more than a few months? Just _don't_, Wally. The answer is no, and I hope you're not too blind to realize that's for our own good."

Wally glared down at him; they were nose-to-nose now, and the redhead was taking full advantage of his taller build to tower over his shorter friend. Yet somehow, Dick didn't look intimidated in the slightest.

Wally didn't want to let this argument go, wanted to press his point. He just _knew _Dick was as into guys as he himself was – as his best bro he kind of picked up on that sort of thing – and despite Dick's reasoning he thought… he thought he deserved at least a _chance_. So what if it didn't work out? They were the bestest of best friends; he was sure nothing could come between them. Not even a failed relationship. Right?

Something in Dick's expression made him keep his mouth shut about that, however. "Alright then. Fine. Just… _fine_," he resigned rather lamely, not knowing what else to say, but feeling the need to fill the stillness with _something_. Suddenly uncomfortably aware of how close they were standing, Wally stepped back quickly to put some distance between their faces. The ensuing silence was permeated by an awkward tension so thick he could almost _see _it, building up a wall between them.

"…I—I think I should just go now…," said Wally eventually, as quietly as he could, though it still sounded loud in the silence. He picked up Dick's fallen pen from where it lay by his feet and set it on the desk. Dick said nothing; his blue eyes lowered and shadowed by his fringe of black hair, thus hiding them from Wally's searching gaze.

The speedster hesitated a fraction of a second longer, before making his way soundlessly back to the door. It swished open with a soft hiss, and he stepped into the dimly lit hallway of Mount Justice.

"_Sorry…"_ The softly-spoken whisper seemed to brush lightly against his ear as Robin's door closed behind him, so quiet he almost imagined it. But no amount of 'sorry's, no matter how heartfelt, would heal the hurt in his chest anytime soon. He'd just have to prove Dick wrong then, that's all, no matter how long it would take.

As he trekked across the bleak expanse of hallway to his own door, feeling rather defeated, he realized that Dick had never actually answered Wally's 'irrelevant' question. Maybe he had a chance after all, if only a tiny one at that.

**~x~**

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_**Author's Note: **Thanks for all the lovely reviews on this so far, it was really encouraging! I hope you liked this one as well. Please don't hesitate to tell me what you thought, whether it be compliment or criticism._

_PS, check out the poll on my profile too if you haven't already ^^_


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